SMALL CHURCH TAKES INCLUSION MESSAGE TO CAPE GIRARDEAU

Most Christian churches preach that intercourse between persons of the same sex is wrong. Others ordain gay pastors.

Now gays and lesbians in Cape Girardeau have a choice -- attend the traditional churches or go to one that specifically recruits them.

The Metropolitan Community Church is here.

The Rev. Liz Leech, 68, arrived in Cape Girardeau on Dec. 1 to start leading Bible discussions between members of her fledgling, 12-member congregation. Right now, the topic is understanding Bible passages commonly used to condemn homosexuality.

They meet in a member's home, but hope to have an official place of worship by April 7, Easter Sunday.

The MCC was founded in 1968, after the Rev. Troy Perry was defrocked by the Pentecostal church for his homosexuality. Church literature says he received a call from God to found a church that affirmed gay men, lesbians and all other outcasts.

Now there are Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches in 17 countries with 40,000 members. The closest one to Cape Girardeau began three years ago in Paducah, Ky., and now boasts an average attendance of 50 people.

Leech, an MCC member since 1980, pastored churches in Columbus, Ga., and Montgomery, Ala., before coming to Cape Girardeau. She began as a Pentecostal Four-Square pastor in her youth, then left the ministry to marry and raise three children.

Many years and a divorce later, Leech started considering her sexuality. In 1979, she accepted that she was a lesbian and came out to her children, who were supportive. She began attending the MCC congregation in Wichita, Kan.

"We don't believe that homosexuality is a sin," Leech said. "We believe God loves everybody and that we were created homosexuals, just as other people were created heterosexuals.

"We feel there has been a gross misinterpretation of the scriptures."

Various MCC pamphlets explain what church leaders believe those misinterpretations are.

For example, mainstream religions teach that the Biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah is a warning against homosexuality. The MCC teaches that it is a warning against being inhospitable and against rape.

The literature also quotes Leviticus 18:22, which says in the King James Version, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is an abomination."

The pamphlet reads: "Anyone concerned about this prohibition should read the whole chapter or the whole book of Leviticus: no pork, no lobster, no shrimp ... no inter-breeding of cattle, and a host of other laws, including the law to kill all divorced people who remarry."

Other pamphlets focus on positive scriptures about acceptance of Christ Jesus as a savior.

Leech said the MCC is ecumenical and accepts people of all Christian faiths and all sexual preferences. Ministers perform "holy unions" between people of either gender.

"We defy all sorts of isms," Leech said. "Racism, sexism, ageism -- we attract people of all kinds."

The Rev. Brad Wishon, an MCC pastor in St. Louis, said his church would like to work with the local ministerial alliance, explaining to ministers what MCC does for the community.

But the Rev. Bill Burke, president of the Cape Girardeau Ministerial Alliance and pastor at the Nazarene First Church, said his initial reaction to MCC's arrival is that Cape churches already are open to gays as they are "to all sinners."

However, he admitted that most churches wouldn't condone the gay lifestyle and may restrict homosexuals from having leadership positions.

Still, non-traditional religions are welcome to join the 60-church alliance, Burke said.

"Some will take a firm stand and others will be very open to it," he said. "I don't think the evangelical church as a whole is open to the gay community, but we wouldn't tell anyone they can't come to church.

"We don't pass judgment."

Anyone interested in joining the Metropolitan Community Church can call Leech at 335-5106.